I'm tired! My day started at 4 a.m., when I was woken by the sound of breaking glass and earth-shaking pounding:
fire-fighters were breaking windows and bashing in doors RIGHT NEXT DOOR:
the neighboring apartment house was on fire. Flames were shooting through the roof!
Luckily it was entirely empty of people and animals (it's for sale--no one's living there).
I went outside and the smoke smelled horribly toxic.
Marz had had a big event yesterday and had crashed on my couch --great timing as I could then
go with her to her new place a mile away and sleep the rest of the night there.
The house that burned was the site of a murder four summers ago (the sad but almost predictable result of the perfect storm of meth-addict renters + the easy availability of guns).
Watching the flames, I felt weirdly glad that the house was getting destroyed, as it always felt haunted to me.
Penny Cooper, the sensible doll, rolls her eyes at this kind of thinking. She's right, of course--it was a bad combo of social factors that made the house sketchy.
Nonetheless, I won't be sorry to see its shell torn down.
Then I went to my first day as the Media Specialist at SVDP, aka The Book Lady at the Thrift Store.
Best of all, many customers chatted with me and several regulars commented how nice the area will
look nice when it's all spruced up, and how they're looking forward to
new books coming out.
I'll be working more than my scheduled 20 hours this week, as I work overtime (well, unpaid) to get the book area is shape.
It's not too bad---especially for a thrift store---but there's a lot, a lot to be done to make it nice, and to flow better too.
When I got home I
found an article online to send him about how bookstores like Barnes
& Noble face their books out because they know they SELL more. And I saw several articles by librarians about how they're taking a leaf from B&N's book now too, which I've noticed my library does.
I just know as a shopper and browser, I prefer to look at books facing out, and it definitely encourages me to pick books up.
fire-fighters were breaking windows and bashing in doors RIGHT NEXT DOOR:
the neighboring apartment house was on fire. Flames were shooting through the roof!
Luckily it was entirely empty of people and animals (it's for sale--no one's living there).
I went outside and the smoke smelled horribly toxic.
(Ugh, the memory of it is still in my nose--or maybe some scent molecules are still clinging to the fine hairs in there.)
The house that burned was the site of a murder four summers ago (the sad but almost predictable result of the perfect storm of meth-addict renters + the easy availability of guns).
Watching the flames, I felt weirdly glad that the house was getting destroyed, as it always felt haunted to me.
Penny Cooper, the sensible doll, rolls her eyes at this kind of thinking. She's right, of course--it was a bad combo of social factors that made the house sketchy.
Nonetheless, I won't be sorry to see its shell torn down.
Then I went to my first day as the Media Specialist at SVDP, aka The Book Lady at the Thrift Store.
I
worked all day (10:30--6) weeding out damaged books or ones that have been for sale a long time, and alphabetizing and displaying
the ones that are staying---placing at least a couple books face-out on each shelf, for
more inviting and colorful and readable "visual merchandising".
.
.
bink dropped by and ended up helping me for a couple hours too--so neat! She pulled the book that had been on the shelf the longest--since 2012. (Shelving dates are written in pencil on the flyleaf.) If it hasn't sold in six years, I feel confident I can chuck it.
.
.
The former Book Lady was not big on weeding the shelves, but she was big into sorting books by size (?), so she had alphabetized fiction books by author in four separate groupings:
regular and larger hardbacks, mass-market-size paperbacks, and the larger trade paperbacks. If you were looking for a certain author, you'd have to check all four places.
.
.
bink suggested I arrange the fiction books Library Style instead:
it doesn't matter what size or format they are, they all get alphabetized together.
it doesn't matter what size or format they are, they all get alphabetized together.
Of course it flows so much better, and is visually more interesting too, than facing a wall of all-one-sized book.
I am going to invite more friends---extra hands and brains really HELP.
It was tiring (my arms will be sore tomorrow, I bet)--- but soooo fun--I really loved it. I'm one of those people who puts books in order when I'm shopping at bookstores. (Is there a name for this?)
I worked in libraries for years. And while these days I'm more interested in toys and sewing ephemera, etc., I do love books, and I know them well.
I worked in libraries for years. And while these days I'm more interested in toys and sewing ephemera, etc., I do love books, and I know them well.
I'll be working more than my scheduled 20 hours this week, as I work overtime (well, unpaid) to get the book area is shape.
My poor boss wants to trust me, and I believe he DOES trust me,
but
he said he was a little freaked because he's used to cramming in as
much merchandise as possible, and this more open look, with books facing
out, looks like "wasted" space.
I just know as a shopper and browser, I prefer to look at books facing out, and it definitely encourages me to pick books up.
Tomorrow I am going to take my camera so I can
photograph my work---I wish I'd thought to bring it today so I could
have done a Before & After. Still... it's only half done---lots to record yet.
